1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a cap frame which holds a cap in order that embroidery may be sewn on a part of the cap to be embroidered by an embroidery sewing machine.
2. Related Art
There have conventionally been provided embroidery sewing machines which can sew embroidery on a front of a cap such as a baseball cap or a periphery of the cap. In these embroidery sewing machines, a cap is set on a cap frame, and the cap frame is detachably connected to a feeding mechanism, whereby embroidery can be sewn on the cap. Furthermore, when attaching or detaching a cap to or from the cap frame, a worker generally mounts the cap frame on a cap-frame setting frame fixed to a working table. The cap is then held by the cap frame or detached from the cap frame.
The aforesaid cap frame includes a cap frame body which is attached to the feeding mechanism of an embroidery sewing machine or to the cap-frame setting frame, and a pressing member having a proximal end supported by the cap frame body. The cap frame body is formed into a cylindrical shape and is provided with a flange. The flange has a function of increasing a rigidity of the cap frame body and a function of preventing displacement of the pressing member. The aforesaid pressing member comprises an elastic thin plate member and has a through-hole through which a visor of the cap is inserted.
When a cap is to be held by a cap frame, a cap frame body is firstly attached to a cap-frame setting frame. The cap is then set onto the cap frame body with the front side of the cap having a visor being directed upward. Subsequently, the visor of the cap is inserted through the through-hole of the pressing member while the pressing member is being pivotally moved about the proximal end thereof in such a direction that the cap is pressed by the pressing member. A hook member provided on a distal end of the pressing member is locked on the cap frame body side. As a result, the pressing member is disposed along the opening side of the cap and presses the vicinity of a part of the cap to be sewn from outside, by the elasticity thereof.
The aforesaid flange is provided on the cap frame so as to be adjacent to the pressing member in order to prevent the pressing member pressing the cap from being displaced. For this reason, the pressing member needs to be operated so as not to be displaced back and forth when the cap is to be pressed by the pressing member. Otherwise, the pressing member is caught on the flange or the like. More specifically, there is a possibility that the cap cannot be properly held if the pressing member, in pressing the cap, is flexed in the direction opposed to the direction in which the cap is pressed by the pressing member.
On the other hand, another conventional cap frame includes a pressing member made of an elastic material. The pressing member has an insertion hole for the visor and hangs downward from a proximal end thereof. When a cap is to be pressed, the visor of the cap is inserted through the insertion hole while the pressing member is attached round the cap frame body so that the cap is interposed between the cap frame body and the pressing member. A hook member on the distal end of the pressing member is locked on the cap frame body side. Accordingly, in this cap frame, too, the pressing member has a possibility of being caught on the flange unless the pressing member is twisted around the cap so as not to be displaced relative to the cap frame body.
In each above-described conventional cap frame, the pressing member needs to be attached along the flange while the visor of the cap is being inserted through the insertion hole of the pressing member. Thus, a work of holding the cap by an accurate operation of the pressing member is unexpectedly troublesome. The pressing member hanging downward needs to be lifted upward particularly in the latter conventional cap frame. Furthermore, the aforementioned holding work needs to be carried out while the pressing member is attached round the periphery of the cap frame body, whereupon the working efficiency is reduced.